From: Terri Bey
Well, it has been nearly a YEAR since I have seen my boys- ACE, GENE, PAUL, AND PETER -that was at the Nashville Arena on Jan 2, 1999, so when I heard about this show, I had to go. I decided to fly in the day before the show, which was my birthday and spend some time in Vancouver. Well, was it worth the flight from my home in Lexington, Ky? Was it worth my flight having technical problems causing me to lose my connector in Dallas, then in the commotion of getting me another to Vancouver the airline people losing my return ticket, therefore giving problems with the Canadian Custom officials ( all this on my BIRTHDAY, NO LESS, however, I DID meet KISS manager Doc McGee in the airport) and FINALLY getting me to my hotel at 8:45pm instead of about 3pm that I was supposed to?

OH HELL YEAH IT WAS!!!!!!!! I even got an extra BONUS! After 22 years of being a fan, I have never met ANY ORIGINAL member of KISS. I have met, Bruce Kulick, Eric Singer, and Mark ST. John and I am HONORED to have done so. However, I always wished to meet an original member, and on the day of the show, I DID!!!!!

I had a friend who found out where they were staying and he tipped me off to wear something nice so I would not get the security at the hotel all upset. In other words, NO KISS STUFF. Well, we met at the hotel at about 5:30pm in the lobby and we had found out that Paul Stanley had come down. He was dressed in a beret, and a black coat. My friend and I got autographs and pictures taken with him. Paul was very pleasant. Even though I was dressed in a very nice velvet dress and a fur coat, I was ECSTATIC. I met Paul.

My friend and I decided to sit and wait for the others to come down. Now, I am a HUGE ACE FREHLEY FAN. I have a beagle named after him and have a website, TERRI'S COMET, for him. SO you can imagine, my excitement at the THOUGHT that I was FINALLY going to meet ACE. Well, like my favorite racehorse, Alydar was second to Affirmed in 7 of 10 races including the 1978 Triple Crown ( Kentucky Derby, Preakness, the Belmont Stakes), I had to play ALYDAR, when ACE CAME DOWN!!!

Here is WHY:

Paul was talking to some people waiting for the rest of the band, WHEN, a bunch of haggardly dressed KISS fans who had been THROWN OUT ALREADY from the hotel premises RETURNED, and the hotel security who saw them, freaked out, and yelled at them, saying ,"We told you people to leave, already." So, about TWO MINUTES LATER, guess who walks out of the elevator? You guessed it, MY HERO: ACE FREHLEY!!!!!

He walked out fast, and sat down on a couch!! Well, you can imagine how, excited I was getting. I was real excited. Here I was, about 20 feet away from my personal hero for 22 years and I was nudging my friend, "Come on. It is time to meet ACE." Of course, I have a huge crush on Ace , so I was really excited. ( My friend emailed me and said that he thought I was going to pass out!!! LOL)

SO, we ATTEMPTED to approach, BUT were held back by the security, who were apparantly upset by the KISS fans who had showed up. Even though, my friend and I were properly attired, these fans who obviously would not take no for an answer, spoiled the fun.

I got to look at Ace from about 20 feet. He looked VERY HEALTHY. He looked DAMN GOOD. I was smiling at him, and was deep inside hurt that I couldn't meet him. I was excited though, just to be THATCLOSE to him.

Now, here is another treat, I happened to look around and there is GENE. I smile and Gene, puts his finger to his lips, but those raggedly looking fans notice him anyway, and he shakes their hand, he walks up to me and I shook his hand, and introduced myself. He said , "HI". He was in a hurry, and could not sign. He was very pleasant. Ace then stood up, and Gene asked where is Peter, and was told Peter was eating somewhere and they were gone.

How about that? Well, I am happy I met Gene and Paul. At first I was so down (I stil am a little bit.) on meeting Ace. I LOVE ALL my members, don't get me wrong, but Ace was the ONE I wanted!!!! Of course, I should be very happy , I got THATCLOSE, and I AM. I am very GRATEFUL to my friend for helping me out. I am also EXTREMELY GRATEFUL that I got to MEET a couple of of my idols. As the saying goes, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth." A final note, about NEARLY MEETING ACE, I have another chance at the NY Guitar SHow on Jan 9th, and as my other friend said, what happened at the hotel was a temporary setback in my quest to meet Ace, and there will be other chances.

NOW that I have written a NOVEL of a treat, let's get to the review of the SHOW:

Alright, first off, I was very excited for the show, after my ordeal in meeting a couple of the bandmembers. As you can imagine, my emotions were kind of mixed considering I got my picture taken with Paul, but didn't get Ace. However, I had to put my major disappoinment behind and put my energy into cheering on Ace and the boys, and buying T shirts for me and about 5 friends. ( I am too nice. LOL. )

Well, I find my seat in the fourth row , center, on the floor in the reserved section. Very cool. I go to the madhouse of a merchandise stand and buy my t shirts. I had to go to another stand to my own shirt and the vendor was kind enough to give me a box. Of course , I got harassed by mostly drunk people about my loot, but hey, I was seeing KISS.

I totally didn't pay attention to the openers, so sorry. When I got to my seat, for the HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD, I saw two great friends of mine and we chatted and stuff. THey had VIP laminates and usually go to the front when the lights go down but they were cool enough to stay in the row behind me the whole show ( also the crowd was nuts the entire show.)

We were shown a 15 minute film on KISS which was cool, and THEN: the curtain dropped and KISS CAME ON, and rocked the house!!!! This was one of the best shows I have ever seen the band put on!!!!! This band has taken alot of heat by fans who say they have "lost it", well, this band still "got it"!!!!! I was amazed with the band's cohesion, and playing. The band looked like they were enjoying themselves as well.

I was at first skeptical of the 80's tunes, being in there and how they would sound ( I still contend they should stick to the 70's classics.), but my fears were blown away by the band. I was greatly impressed by their rendition of "HOF", "I love it Loud", and ESPECIALLY , "LIU". LIU was just ASS KICKING. Ace's solo on LIU was just AWESOME.

As for the band members, Gene was his usual self, he did his usual blood spitting and fire breathing etc. I did have a funny moment with him during "LIU". I had a hard time seeing Ace ( I always watch ACE during the show. I mean, I watch the whole show, but I pay attention to Ace.) so I gave Gene the tongue, and he gave it back and wagged his finger at me. IT was a blast.

Peter was kicking major ass on the drums. He was solid throughout the show. I think, during "Love it Loud" he may have messed up. Not sure. He sang Beth and BD very well. No drum solo though.

Paul was in EXCELLENT vocal form. Great during PC, Detroit, Rock CIty etc. He did his usual stage shtick, wiggling his butt and getting the gals excited. I was starting to become a paul fan, myself.

Well, in my past reviews of KISS shows on kissasylum, on the PC tour, I would talk about ACE first, well, I thought I would save the best for LAST. How do you say it: HE WAS AWESOME. In the opinion of this fan, Ace stole the show. He was so ON, it was great. I knew he would kick ass when I saw him in the hotel. It was just like you could tell when Secretariat was going to run his great race in the 1973 Belmont when he won by 31 lengths in capturing the Triple Crown just by looking at him in the paddock ( saddling area) , walking ring, and post parade before he was loaded in the starting gate. Secretariat blew away the field, and Ace was definitely KISS' version of Secretariat that night in Vancouver. All Gene, Paul, and Peter had to do was sit down for the ride. From PC to Shock Me, to COld Gin right to the end. Ace was just out of this world. Yeah, a couple of mistakes , here and there, but Ace was JAMMING. I particularly enjoyed his playing, like I mentioned previously on "LIU". I do not believe in comparisons, I just judge on what I hear. Great bitchin solo, with excellent speed.

I throroughly, enjoyed Ace's guitar solo. As a Kentuckian, I especially enjoyed the first part of the solo when he put in ,"Call to the post" ( the music the bugler plays before the racehorses come onto the track for the post parade.) I almost started singing "My Old Kentucky HOme."LOL. I saw on the screen that Ace was doing some finger picking which was cool. Then, the guitar goes up in the air. Then he comes out again and plays the 2001 theme and says something that I didn't catch. (My friend told me he said, "Don't fall asleep on me.") He shot not one, not two, but THREE "rockets", one of which went right over our heads. WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO. Great solo.

Overall: ACE KICKED ASS. Not only that, he got to sing, not one, not two, but THREE SONGS. I was in HOG HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!! I even gave my buddy, Karl Cochran a cheer, since he did co write "Into the Void" with Ace who got to sing it as an encore. I was elated. I was ESPECIALLY ELATED that Ace got to sing 2000 Man at midnight. Thank god.

I thought the effects were real cool, with PEter's drum riser going up and Gene and Ace being on individual risers ala the Super Bowl with Paul smashing the guitar during RARAN.

Now for some of the down side:

Not much of a countdown.

I read two of the reviews here already and I am going to have to agree with them that security was just AWFUL. They had too little security for all those people on the floor. The security could not keep people in the reserved seats from standing in their chairs, and these are people sitting in the SECOND ROW CENTER ON THE FLOOR!!!!!! You are sitting in the second row on the floor and you have to stand in your chair????? Come on???!!!!!!

I thought the stadium was a bad place for a show. The stage was way too big and I had a hard time seeing the band. NO kidding, with people in the second and third rows standing in their chairs, it makes it kind of tough. Then, the general admission idea was very bad as well, because it was a zoo trying to get to your seat and to LEAVE the arena.

This aside, I had an ass kicking time with KISS and ring in the new year and the new Millenium.

I hope you enjoyed my novel. LOL

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